Dungeon World: The Hungering Doom

Dwarven-Orcish War

Back when the orc population was at its peak, an orc known as Warchief Goreguttah had united the orc tribes by taking possession of the Iron Sword of Ages, an ancient relic of the orcs which was historically wielded by all the greatest chiefs. He called a war against their ancient enemy, the dwarves to settle old grudges and take more land for the tribes. The dwarves put up a fierce resistance, but the united orc forces proved too difficult to handle in the open – the dwarves were driven underground, and their overground cities were burned and pillaged by the Goreguttah’s forces.

While the Dwarves reinforced their underground domain, building up strong defences that remain to this day, the human King Sigislund recognised the danger of a united Orc horde and made plans to put an end to this war and save the dwarves; later it would become clear that he did not do this out of kindness.

The elves from Elf Forest were known for their closeness to nature, and their wariness of outsiders. King Sigismund negotiated with them, he required a powerful debilitating alchemical poison to be created, elven alchemists were known to be far more capable than their human counterparts and were thought by Sigislund to be the only ones capable of producing a concoction that would be potent, undetectable, slow-acting and lastly effective only against orcs. In return for creating the requested poison, Sigislund signed an agreement with the elves promising to put an end to the unregulated harvesting of timber from forests, the agreement also made it a capital offense for humans to litter on elven lands.

Warchief Goreguttah’s horde was encamped above the underground dwarven settlement of Khaz Baruk, making attack plans. Orc scouts had entered into the tunnels but were all picked off by dwarf traps, ranger or otherwise simply lost in the labyrinthine tunnel. Meanwhile the orc settlements were reliant on the ‘Bakunawa Tooth River’ for their water. Humans under King Sigislund’s command poisoned this river with the elvish poison. It worked as intended, gradually orcs would fall into a coma with no indication of how or why. Human forces soon invaded orc lands, killing many and enslaving those who had fallen victim to the poison, the orc slaves were put to work using their bestial strength to build the heavy stone structures of human towns.

It’s said that Warchief Goreguttah flew into a furious rage upon hearing the news from which he would never be calmed. He killed the first three messenger’s to bring him news of the attack, caught between a seemingly impenetrable dwarf defence and a surprise human offensive in his own lands he sent all the forces he had available down into the underground tunnels. His foolhardy orders and the low morale within the horde led to the most devasting defeat the orcs have ever experienced, by the end almost all were killed or enslaved.

The ultimate fate of Goreguttah remains a mystery, dwarves claim to have killed him in battle and burned the body, many humans say he escaped the battle and was seen fleeing north, many more expect he met his demise in the treacherous Buried Land far beneath Khaz Baruk. Nobody truly knows what became of Goreguttah and as such the location of the Iron Sword of Ages remains a mystery. Many hope the sword remains lost for another Warchief could potentially unite the orcs once more with dire consequences.